Impact of plasmid size on the purification of model plasmid DNA vaccines by phenyl membrane adsorbers

• Separation of pDNA isoforms from impurities by membrane-HIC stepwise elution.
• All OC plasmids bind with similar binding strengths to phenyl membrane adsorbers.
• SC pDNA binding strength depends on effective diameter rather than their base pairs.

Plasmid DNA (pDNA) offers a versatile platform for the development of new pharmaceuticals. This versatility also adds in variability among plasmid products most of the times sharing only the same basic molecular structure. Membrane chromatography experiments performed with a Sartorius® Phenyl 3 mL spiral cartridge and differently sized plasmids (3.70 kbp, 6.05 kbp and 10.4 kbp) show that the strength of interaction of pDNA isoforms with HIC membrane adsorbers depends on size. These differences in relative binding strength were explored using a stepwise elution strategy of decreasing buffer conductivities in order to increase the purity of supercoiled (SC) pDNA isoforms. The open circular (OC) isoforms of all plasmids eluted earlier at a similar conductivity of 190 mS/cm, independently of the hydrodynamic diameter (Dh). A drop in conductivity of 16.0 mS/cm, 23 mS/cm and 19 mS/cm had to be imposed to elute the supercoiled (SC) counterparts of the 3.70 kbp, 6.05 kbp and 10.4 kbp, respectively. This corresponds to relative binding strengths of the SC over OC isoforms of 1.09, 1.14 and 1.11. Unlike the OC isoforms, the behavior of SC isoforms was dependent of the Dh. The purified and pooled plasmid fractions were assayed and demonstrated high degree of purity, compliant with regulatory agencies criteria: over 99% RNA removal, endotoxin levels below 0.001 EU/μg pDNA and undetectable protein content by BCA assay.